Page 56 of Awakened
She gave a minuscule shake of the head and pulled the blanket over her face.
“Fair.” It took maximum effort to get up and drag my sorry ass to the breakfast bar.
“Good morning,” Marie said with a flourish of the spatula.
I gave her a one-finger salute and grabbed a piece of dry toast.
She chuckled and added another pancake to the stack next to the stove. “You’ll be happy to know the bridge is passable. Y’all will be able to get back to the city today.”
“Awesome. Sarah, are we heading back soon? I have some stuff I need to take care of before my trip.”
Sarah lifted her head from the counter with a whimper and slid on a pair of black sunglasses. “Sure, Les. As soon as I’m not drunk, we can go.”
“So, I guess now isn’t the best time to review the latest missing person reports?” Marie lifted her chin toward her office at the other end of the house.
“Later. Now I need coffee,” Bonnie said as she leaned her forehead against the doorframe. Groaning, she shuffled toward us, her arms extended in search of a freshmug of dark roast.
A few pots of coffee later, we’d reviewed the three recent cases of missing wolves linked to the Old Church Packs and drafted correspondence with Marie’s ex-husband to find out if he knew anything. After meeting his mate, he’d become more and more traditional. While his pack wasn’t necessarily one we were watching, they were in the loop with those assholes. I was starting to wonder if there was anything we could even do to protect these wolves.
Sarah and I made it home about six hours later. It’s incredibly embarrassing to be so hungover that you’re forced to make multiple pit stops on a trip that should take about an hour. Lucky for me, Sarah was just as broken as I was, and we alternated being the person who needed to stop. We entered the duplex in silence, going to the kitchen for a glass of water and then to our rooms to try to sleep off the nausea.
As I lay down and pulled the comforter over my head, my phone rang.
“Someone better be dead.”
“Well, hello to you too, my favorite sister.” Brandon’s voice was too loud and too happy for the storm brewing in my head.
“Ugh. What the fuck is it, Brand? I am actively trying not to vomit all over my bed.”
“Hitting the sauce a little too hard, Les? You should probably scale back. You aren’t a young pup anymore.”
“The point you called, Brandon? I would get to it very soon if you don’t want to meet a premature death.”
“Okay, okay. I wanted to make sure you were set for your trip up tomorrow and see if you’re good with having lunch with the pack before we leave.”
My eyes flew open, and I immediately shut them against the low light of late afternoon. “Oh man, I don’t know about that.”
“Come on, Les! It would mean a lot to me, and Grandma Rose will be there. Please, please, please, ple?—”
“Okay, fine. I will eat with the pack, but you fucking owe me. Now, goodbye.” Without waiting for a response, I hung up.
Fuuuuuuuck. I couldn’t believe I was going to a pack mealbefore I went and played retriever for Aiden and Whitney. Everyone had pretended we were searching for Seth for his safety, but when he resurfaced in his dad’s territory, Aiden’s focus shifted to bringing him home. It became apparent what the real goal was—reconciliation before the wedding. Of course, the truth didn’t stop Aiden from pretending it was for Seth’s own good that he returned to The Blue Moon Pack. Usually, I would call bullshit on such a blatant lie, but bringing Seth home served my own purposes, and doing it on Aiden’s dime didn’t hurt.
Aiden and I had only spoken twice in the last year. Once was when he found out about Brandon and Emily. That was averyfun conversation. They somehow kept their relationship under wraps for three months after visiting me. Apparently, Aiden went by my little white house early one morning to pick up Brand and caught Emily leaving out the back door.
Wish I could’ve seen that shitshow.
Emily was able to prevent my brother from experiencing any real harm. Still, there was a serious scuffle, and Aiden’s dad had to mediate. Gasp, surprise! Brandon and Emily’s not being mates was an issue for the former alpha. Emily was sent to several meetings under the guise of preparing to be the beta female, but I knew exactly what Alpha Williams was doing. He had sent her mate hunting.
From the time Aiden shifted until he met Whitney, he was sent on four trips a year to different packs to “learn the role of an alpha.” Funny enough, that role included meeting every unmated she wolf in the territory.
The difference between siblings? Instead of being a little punk-ass bitch like Aiden, Emily refused to continue to go to these meetings once she saw them for what they were. She put her foot down and told her dad that she would leave the pack and take Brandon if he kept disrespecting their relationship. I couldn’t imagine a woman better suited for my brother. Alpha caved because he really did love his daughter, and despite being pissedabout my brother not honoring the mate bond, he knew Brandon was a fantastic asset to the pack.
The next time we spoke was right after I became Beta, a few months before the wedding. As the big day approached, Aiden grew more concerned that Seth wouldn’t return. So, what did he do? He called me.
The Bullshit Call
My phone buzzed while I was taking on an all-you-can-eat sushi challenge at lunch. I looked down and saw Aiden’s name and debated whether I should answer. Looking at the empty seat across from me, I was pissed I didn’t have a lunchmate to use as an excuse. I’d let go of what Aiden and I were months before but worried what it would be like to hear his voice again. As much as I tried to view us as a pleasant memory, I still felt a lot of hurt and a dash of bitterness about our past. Like the masochist I was, I answered the phone.
